DIFFUSE FRONTIERS AND HALF-BREED SOCIAL ACTORS: CONCEPTUAL DEBATES AND ANALYTICAL DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING BORDERING SPACES AND THEIR LINKS TO THE WHITE INDIANS IN THE CHACO REGION DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY

Abstract

In the frontier drawn between the Argentine State and the different aborigine groups of the Chaco region during the second half of the XIX century, different half-breed social identities that escape simple dichotomies between whites and Indians, civilized people and savage people were formed. The historical practice of considering social actors as white Indians (deserting soldiers, fugitive criminals, political exiles and refugees, as well as merchants who were incorporated to the Indian groups) provides a privileged space for anthropological observation which has been relatively little explored until now. This paper investigates the historical reasons that motivated the migration of Creoles and recovers the perspective of social actors who took a leading role in the facts studied.